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TOROLOCO LEAVES HIS VISITING CARD

By Epsom Ace | 23 Jan 2013 | KOLKATA


Mr. Vikram Singh & trainer Irfan Ghatala leading Toroloco (Paul Mulrennan Up), winner of The Indian Champion Cup (Gr.1)

Trainer Irfan Ghatala’s Toroloco came from Bangalore with a huge reputation to guard against and the five-year-old gelding did not let down his followers in the Indian Champion Cup at the Calcutta racecourse on Wednesday. In fact. the bay closed as the 2/1 public choice, closely followed by Dandified and Ocean And Beyond.

It was Dandified’s stablemate Abriella who set a cracking pace, followed by Berlusconi, Arabian Prince and Vijay Monarch. The three fancied runners were in the second half of the field with Toroloco and Paul Mulrennan holding a handy fifth slot. A confident Christopher Alford sat and watched the proceedings from the second last slot while in the last berth lay Ocean And Beyond. As heads turned for home, it was Toroloco who made the first move followed by Ocean and Beyond and Dandified almost in unison. In the final furlong, Ocean And Beyond got chopped off as Toroloco and Dandified raced neck to neck. However, the Bangalore challenger’s superior stamina was never in doubt and he proved it in no uncertain manner.

The post race discussion among the cognoscenti centred around whether Toroloco (Rebuttal-Miss Beautiful) would close as the ante-post favourite in the Invitation Cup now that five-year-olds are eligible to take part in this race for the country’s crowning glory.

The Indian Champagne Stakes went Adiella’s way after the Vijay Singh-trained filly was held in check by C.Alford till the top of the straight and then guided along the rails to peg back the on-money public choice Captain Courageous. The latter was ridden in rather pedestrian manner by Sreekanth who permitted Moonlit Sky to call the till the straight before trying to take over at the helm. He seemed to be caught unawares by the big-hearted filly by Multidimensional out of Psychic Flame who appears to be improving in leaps and bounds.

Trainer Bharath Singh and rider Sandesh enjoyed a successful afternoon as they notched up a double with Impressive Move and Oakdale. The former, a colt by Mr Mellon out of Coco Beach, closed as the favourite in the Sentouki Handicap and won a regulation race, the only threat to his superiority emanating from Javed Khan-trained Haddock. Oakdale lifted the Republic Cup after a tough duel with Accrews in the final furlong of the mile race. The latter was on a start-to-finish mission but fell short narrowly to the mare by China Visit out of Adesina. Fancied by some, Head Hunter may not have taken to his blinkers, opined his connections.

Trainer Vikash Jaiswal has done a good job with Spectacular Style as the seven-year-old came out and won a second successive race, beating quite a few younger animals. Jockey Imran Chisty rode a copybook race in that he permitted Zoffany and Noble Defender to call the early shots before taking over the running in the straight as the leading pair drifted off a straight course.

Jamie Spencer rode a grandstand finish astride Serena (Burden Of Proof-Loch Katrine) to bring home the bacon in the race for the Obligado Handicap. This also happened to be Bharath’s third winner of the afternoon. At the mid-way point, it appeared that the race would be restricted to the front-runners Trrust In Me and Sreeyantra as Serena had a lot of running to do. However, it was Spencer’s calmness which won him the day as he never rushed the filly. Instead, he coolly took the shortest route home through a wall of horses to win quite comfortably from a late-finishing Songwriter.

The curtain came down with an absolute thriller as Imran Chisty powered home the Javed Khan-trained Xavier (Duja-Miss Sunshine) to a measured victory over Irish Connection and Iconic. The favourite Burst Of Stardust faded out after an early show of speed.